Spain High-Speed Train Crash Kills at Least 68 in Toledo Province; Minister Cites 'Inexplicable' Order

At least 68 people were killed on Wednesday, Oct. 28, when a high-speed Renfe train slammed into the back of a stationary Iryo train on the Madrid-Seville line in Toledo province in central Spain, according to the Castilla-La Mancha regional government. Regional president Emiliano García-Page put the toll at 68 at a briefing on Wednesday afternoon, The Guardian reported, after earlier counts of 30 and then 64 as rescue teams worked through the wreckage.

García-Page said about 15 people had severe or critical injuries and 53 others required hospitalization for moderate injuries, according to The Guardian. It is the country's second deadly high-speed rail crash this year, following a January collision in Adamuz in which 46 people were killed, The Guardian and the BBC reported.

What happened on the line

The trains collided just after 9 a.m. local time (08:00 GMT) between the municipalities of Mora and Orgaz, about 140 kilometers (100 miles) south of Madrid, the BBC reported. Both were traveling in the same direction from Madrid toward Seville, and the impact knocked two of the Iryo train's cars off the track, according to The Guardian. Footage broadcast by regional channel CMM TV showed one carriage remaining on an elevated section of track with wreckage strewn across the embankment below.

Esther Padilla, a spokesperson for the Castilla-La Mancha government, told broadcaster TVE that the Iryo train was carrying 146 passengers plus one baby and the Renfe train had 397 passengers on board, the BBC reported. Iryo, a private operator, said its train was "struck from behind" by the Renfe train "due to causes that are still unknown," according to the BBC. Renfe is Spain's state-owned rail company.

A passenger identified only as Miguel, who was traveling in the rear car of one of the trains, told Cope radio: "We heard a massive roar, a truly enormous thud that went on for 10 seconds, as if the train were about to derail," The Guardian reported.

Transport minister points to control-center order

Transport Minister Óscar Puente, speaking from the Atocha station command center of rail infrastructure manager Adif, Spanish newspaper ABC reported, said the LZB train-control system failed at about 8:30 a.m. because of communications problems, leaving more than 60 kilometers of track without coverage and triggering an automatic stop for six trains, according to The Guardian's account of the briefing. At about 8:36 a.m., he said, the Adif control center issued a manual instruction allowing traffic to resume.

"In the event of a system failure, the control centre takes over," Puente said, according to the BBC, which reported that he described the decision to let trains move again without speed restrictions as having been made "under inexplicable circumstances." ABC reported that Puente said the Renfe train then covered about 25 kilometers before striking the Iryo train at 8:53 a.m.

Puente said that even if traffic had been restarted, the train should have been told to proceed "on sight," at no more than 40 kilometers per hour, rather than at normal speed, The Guardian reported. Public broadcaster RTVE reported that the minister's account pointed to a failure at the Atocha control center, though he did not formally attribute the crash to human error. Asked whether he would resign, Puente said he was focused on clarifying what happened rather than on himself, RTVE reported.

"We are absolutely devastated; as you can well imagine, this is one of the most difficult moments one could ever face," Puente said, according to The Guardian.

Investigation underway

Puente said the employee who authorized the train to resume has been identified, and Civil Guard officers are questioning that worker on the orders of the court in Orgaz, which has taken charge of the judicial investigation, radio network Cadena SER reported.

Three technical investigators from the body formerly known as the Railway Accident Investigation Commission (CIAF), along with Civil Guard forensic specialists, are working at the site, El Español reported. The newspaper said the inquiry will examine both trains' juridical recording units, known as black boxes, along with data from Renfe, Iryo and Adif, and noted that the Adamuz investigation showed such inquiries can take at least a year.

Government response

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who visited the crash site, announced three days of national mourning from Oct. 29 to Oct. 31, The Guardian reported. "If there has been any negligence, it will come to light. And if there have been failures in the safety system, they will be addressed with the utmost firmness," Sánchez said. He added that the government must strengthen safety, saying, "This is essential, as it is unacceptable for a country like Spain to experience two high-speed rail accidents in a single year."

Spain's main political parties suspended campaign events for the general election scheduled for next month, and the Spanish football federation postponed all 24 Copa del Rey matches set for Wednesday, according to The Guardian. Renfe said services between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia remained suspended, the BBC reported. The Adamuz collision had been the deadliest in Spain since a 2013 crash that killed 80 people, The Guardian reported.